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Investigations Editor

The Master of High Court will today convene a meeting with the Kadungure family to appoint a new executor to the estate of the late socialite and businessman Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure.

Last week a judge nullified the dubious will that appointed Ms Patricia Darangwa as executor.

The same document also bequeathed Ginimbi’s Lamborghini to a questionable character identified as Kit-Kat.

The court ruled that Ginimbi died intestate and his family can share the assets to the exclusion of friends and other outsiders who were jostling to inherit the wealth.

Justice Amy Tsanga nullified the unsigned will which did not have a date as a dubious document that cannot be accepted for the distribution of the estate.

She also relieved Ms Darangwa of her executorship.

On Thursday, the Kadungure family, represented by the late socialite’s father Anderson and his two sisters Juliet and Neria, wrote to the Master seeking an urgent edict meeting.

The Master has since responded by setting the meeting down for today.

“We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 24th which we only received on the 25th. We notice you are essentially requesting the Master’s office to convene a meeting to appoint an executor ‘preferably tomorrow’ …

“While we appreciate the need to have an executor appointed as soon as possible, due to circumstances obtaining, we are regrettably unable to convene same within your proposed timelines as the office has other meetings scheduled.

“Mindful of the need to appoint an executor within minimum delay, we have decided to convene the meeting on Tuesday the 1st of March 2022 at 930am,” reads the letter by the representative of the Master of High Court.

The nullified will had no signature of the deceased neither was it dated.

Ms Darangwa became an executor to an estate where she was also benefiting.

Although the defective will had been accepted by the Master of High Court and the Kadungure family members, the executor had to be stopped when she was about to distribute the Lamborghini to Kit Kat before winding up of the estate.

The rush to hand over the vehicle to Kit Kat raised eyebrows, sparking a legal battle that led to the nullification of the will and as well as Ms Darangwa’s appointment.

Ginimbi’s sisters — Juliet and Neria together with their father Anderson — sought review of the Master of High Court’s decision to accept the questionable will as well as the appointment of Ms Darangwa as executor on the basis of the same defective document.

Ms Darangwa, the Master of High Court and Kit Kat were listed as respondents in the review application. 

After the death of Ginimbi, Kit-Kat, claiming to be Ginimbi’s best friend, registered the deceased’s estate and unsuccessfully tried to push the Master of High Court into immediately accepting the unsigned will.

Although Ginimbi’s father Mr Anderson Kadungure and sisters Juliet and Neria were listed as possible beneficiaries of the estate in that defective will, Kit Kat has been leading the legal process.

The nullified document showed that Kadungure owned the Domboshava mansion, a company called Infinity Gas, an undisclosed fleet of vehicles and several other companies.

The custodians of the unsigned will, Ranros Estate Administrators, wrote a cover letter seeking the speedy acceptance of the unsigned document as the actual last will and testament for the distribution of the estate.

They argued that some of Kadungure’s companies in Botswana had stopped operating since that country requires an estate to be reported to the authorities before operations can resume.

“The deceased died before signing his last will and testament. We are therefore kindly asking your office to urgently convene a meeting with all beneficiaries so that you can accept the will and issue the court sealed letters of administration.

“The deceased had a running business in Botswana and it stopped operations on November 9, 2020. The laws of that country require the estate to be reported to the Master of High Court within 14 days so that operations will resume.

“The major fear of the beneficiaries is that the business partners of the deceased in Botswana might take advantage and vandalise the assets of the deceased,” reads part of the letter.

However, the Office of the Master through a letter signed by K F Chigomararwa, an Additional Master of High Court in-charge of the Deceased Estates, refused to be pushed into accepting the unsigned will.

Instead, she asked the Kadungure family members and other beneficiaries to attend a meeting.

The unsigned will stated the Domboshava mansion, while part of the proposed trust, should be turned into a hotel to be run by the trustees.

When the family attended the meeting, they accepted the document as the official will of the deceased resulting in the Master of High Court registering it.

The family later made a U-turn when pressure for the immediate release of the lamborghini was now coming from the executor before the winding up of the estate.

They successfully sought review of the decision at the High Court.

Ginimbi died on the spot on November 8 2020 along Liberation Legacy Way in Harare when his speeding Rolls Royce collided head-on with a Honda Fit.

It veered off the road and hit a tree before catching fire. He was with two foreigners who had come for the Saturday night party of a friend Mitchelle Amuli.

Limumba Karim of Malawi and a Mozambican, who was only identified as Alishia and the birthday girl, Mitchelle were burnt beyond recognition after the doors of the Rolls Royce jammed on impact and it took many hours for police and the Fire Brigade to retrieve their remains from the wreckage.